Shenandoah University News

Business Students Conduct ResearchGraduate students get hands-on experience over the summer

October 3, 2019

Master of Business Administration students taught by Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Associate Professor of Business and Director of Internships Giles Jackson, Ph.D., conducted research for organizations in Northern Virginia and across the Atlantic Ocean over the summer.

The students worked on questions related to London-based World Sailing’s sustainability agenda (ranging from technical standards to inclusivity) and to medical equipment for Northern Virginia’s Stryker Spine. The clients checked in with students at various points, helping to refine questions to produce the best results. “We were looking for their ability to gather information, synthesize it and make it applicable to the various business-problem scenarios they were given. We wanted to give them real-world experience in presenting in a corporate environment as many of them probably have not had that experience,” said Stryker Group Product Manager Sean Reynolds, M.B.A.

“The goal of participating was to provide the students with a real-world application of the marketing principles they were learning in Prof. Jackson’s course. We are an organization that gives back to the community in many ways. This was one of those ways, in which we engage with the greater Shenandoah/Northern Virginia area,” said Reynolds, who also assessed the students’ efforts. “This group of students did a very good job of presenting their work,” he said.